The Growth- Day Five

It's Friday evening and I thought I would be at our special Bible-school service right about now! Instead, I am home with Parker, who has a fever and a runny nose, while Wesley is at church with the other two.

So, in between setting up a wooden train track and reading a child's book about ambulances and feeding Parker yogurt and peanut butter cereal (he wasn't hungry for supper, but later seemed to think it was breakfast time!), I have caught snatches of the service going on at church (information for using our conference line is found here) and tried to come up with a few thoughts pertaining to Bible-school!

It's a little hard to write about Bible-school when I've only gotten a glimpse of the students on one occasion, and then while I was busy and preoccupied with serving a meal, but the exercise of writing things in connection with Bible-school and youth in general has helped me to be with them in spirit... and it has reminded me to pray.

After writing about Nourishment and Absorption, it seemed only natural to follow through with the theme on what comes next: growth.

In my book, few things are more satisfying than watching something grow, and springtime gives us ample opportunity to do just that on a daily basis, with grass and flowers coming to life everywhere!

In terms of youth, very few things are as inspiring as watching young people flourish and grow, and while I have high hopes that Bible-school has provided a good environment for this to take place, I was thinking of the fact that what happened this week is only a small part of what we need to provide year-round, which brings me to a few questions to ponder:

What components make up the environment that youth need in order to thrive?

How can we provide this environment within our homes and churches?

I have a few ideas on what some of these necessary components are, like love, encouragement and positive input, but I sometimes feel like I hold pieces and yet have no idea how to put the puzzle together.

I obviously don't have youth yet in my house, but I am beginning to think and care more about these things as I realize how crucial the health of our youth is to our church body and our families, and I would love input on how we can make these places a native ground where young people can thrive.

Therefore, I am listening...